machicolation

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)An opening between corbels that support a projecting parapet, or in the floor of a gallery or the roof of a portal, of a fortified building from which missiles can be shot or heated items dropped upon assailants attacking the base of the walls.

   “Leibourn Caſtle, Kent. A proſpect of the front of that caſtle. Over the gate, we are told, was a machicolation or contrivance, from whence, in caſe of a ſudden attack, great ſtones, boiling water, or melted lead, might be thrown down upon the aſſailants.”

   “Another form of machicolation known as slot (or slit) machicolation was formed by leaving an open slot above and before a gate. Box machicolation, which Kennedy refers to as ‘true machicolation’, appears in Early Islamic fortifications. The direct source is clearly Islamic, although box machicolation is also present on pre-Islamic Syrian tower houses.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A projecting parapet with a series of such openings.

   “The main walls were carried to the top of the fourth story, where a capacious machicolation enclosed the tower, on which there is a parapet wall of great thickness, with arches: this was to protect the persons employed over the machicolations.”

   “In the Contrada della Pace there remains a very bold fragment of a castle tower. It is built of very roughly-jointed stone, and is perfectly plain till near the top, where it has a bold machicolation with tall square angle-turrets, the whole battlemented with a forked battlement.”

   “[E]ach tower, except those at Santandria and Sargantana Island, had a machicolation over the entrance. In the larger towers this machicolation was supported by five or more corbels while the smaller towers had a smaller machicolation supported by four corbels.”